Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Notzi + Lovecraft

In may of 1938, Hitler was desperate to find the Holy Grail. He believed it would bestow more power upon him and that with it he could take anyone. To accomplish this, Hitler set a group of his finest men to Tibet, in hopes of finding the legendary artifact he so craved.

The expedition lasted almost an entire year and towards its end, the men were becoming tired. They trekked on, however, fearing the punishment for failure.

They were, of course, overjoyed when they found the vault. They had been told by a guide that it was where they could find great and lost treasure - things that had the power to change the world.

The vault was hidden deep inside some lesser-known ruins. Upon arrival, they were awed by the sheer size of the door. It was a circular door with a diameter of at least 100 feet. It had shrubs and growths of various natures all over it, most of which were plants they'd never seen before.

The troops spent several hours removing the plantlife so the vault could be opened. They used knives, flame, and anything else they could. It was only after they had completed this task they realized they had no way of opening the vault.

The door looked like it was made for a giant. They couldn't so much as reachf or the handle, for it was 50 feet in the air. Finally, after much hard work and thought, they decided on a plan.

The strongest men got their strongest rope, attached a hook to the end, and tossed it in the air toward the handle. Managing to wrap it around the thing was difficult, but they eventually succeeded.

It took ten men to make it even budge and twenty to really get it moving, but they managed it. They got the vault open as they intended.

Upon opening it, they sent in a small three-man team to try and scope it out. They entered with high hopes of something, anything to bring back to Hitler. They feared him more than anything, which was most definitely a mistake.

After three hours, they began to worry for the safety of their reconnaissance squad. Before more men could venture in, however, they heard a screaming like that of a mad man.

One of the men ran out of the vault. He was screaming, laughing, and covered in blood. They questioned him, but all he would tell them is that he made a sacrifice for the Great Old Ones.

After some debate, the remaining men entered the vault. They cautiously walked through what seemed like an ancient city. It was full of statues of giant beasts - some resembling squid - but with more human features added on.

In the center of the city was a large platform with stairs leading up to it. In the center of this platform was a book. The binding and pages were odd in texture - almost like flesh. The words in the book were odd and foreign, unlike anything they had ever seen. The cover almost looked like it had a face.

They thought the book to be rare and took it, proceeding down the platform. Reaching the bottom, they felt a great thunderous shaking and saw the vault door close before their very eyes. They were trapped much faster than they ever thought possible for something that large to move.

Torches in hand, they did the only thing they could do: search for alternative exits. They marched through increasingly odd ruins filled with the same statues and art seen previously. Finally, they came to a great lake. It seemed to extend deep into the Earth.

They then saw something that chilled them: a large stone slab with a German helmet sitting on it. The slab was covered in blood. Fresh blood. Only hours old, from what they could tell.

They collected the helmet and explored around the underground lake, when suddenly the one among them carrying the odd book began to laugh. He pulled his side-arm from its holster and took one of his own men hostage.

Forcing him to the slab, he shot the man at point blank range and drained a small amount of blood onto the slab. He tossed the body into the waters below. It happened very fast, but the second it registered with the rest of the troops, they shot the renegade as well, sending him to rest with his victim.

Another great quake ran though the city.

From the depths of the lake came a large tentacle like from one of the squid creatures seen in the sculptures. It wrapped around a large rock...then came another and another. More and more came from the water and it soon seemed like 100 tentacles were all around them.

Then, shortly after, they beheld a sight that no sane man had seen. A grand beast rose from the depths. It seemed Godlike. Suddenly, they felt they understood everything and began to kill each other in fits of rage and madness.

The best swept the bodies, both living and dead, into the sea. It consumed them. By the end of the massacre, only one man remained. He began to shuffle out, holding the book they found earlier.

As he left, he put the book back in its place and the door proceeded to open. He left that vault, losing more than the book. He had lost his sanity.

He made it back to his base camp, where they question him thoroughly. He responded only with gibberish about the Old Ones, saying the men had been sacrificed.

The only thing that is known for sure is that they never recovered the book. They tried several times. Hitler kept sending more men, but only one ever came back out of each group.